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Target draws fire with ‘Annie’ ads

This ad is the target of a petition created by a Bear woman. The retail giant was promoting a clothing line based on the movie musical Annie, which was released on Dec. 19. The petition’s author said Target should have been more race sensitive, given that the girl who played the titular character in the latest Little Orphan Annie movie is African-American.(Photo: CHANGE.ORG)

There’s been another kind of bull’s-eye on Target in recent days for its advertising of a clothing line based on the “Annie” movie released on Dec. 19.

A petition authored and posted on www.change.org by Bear resident LaSean Shelton argues that the in-store ads that featured a young girl in the titular character’s iconic red dress and locket was misleading as it “shows a (caucasian) young lady (as) opposed to the star of the film - Quvenzhane Wallis.”

“Though the model is quite professional, she does not speak to the relevance of the movie or the main character. The red dress is synonymous to Annie and we are not seeing that in any of your ads,” said the petition, which by Sunday evening garnered nearly 16,000 signatures.

“Being African-American is not ugly, it is not bad and we are sellable. These grossly misleading ads are adding to the divide and does not give young African-American girls aspiring to become actors anything to be optimistic about.”

The petition called on Target to show more diversity in its in-store ads, but also conceded that its online ads for the Annie-themed clothing line did depict a variety of races.

The most recent film based on the Little Orphan Annie comic strip and musical features black actress Wallis in the title role.

In its response to the petition, Target said it had discussions with Wallis about her getting involved in the retailer’s ad campaign, but said that “ultimately it did not come to fruition.”

“We’re proud of our Annie for Target collection,” Target said in its response, which was posted on the petition’s website. “With regard to the marketing of the collection, girls from a variety of backgrounds were featured within the campaign, reflecting that anyone can embody the spirit and character of Annie.”

In another response to the petition, a Target official told Shelton the company takes feedback seriously and will keep it “top of mind as we move forward.”

Neither Shelton nor Target officials could be reached for comment on this story.

Leland Ware, a Louis Redding professor of law and public policy at the University of Delaware, said he understands the concerns over the Target in-store ads because the main character in the most recent Annie movie is black.

“It is odd that the new Annie is black, and the model (in the ad) is white. It’s interesting the company chose to do that,” Ware said. “I think they could have found an African-American model. It doesn’t have to be the actual actor.”

Ware said cases like the one involving the Annie clothing line are common in media, whether it be in advertising or in movies. He said misleading depictions, for example, recently occurred in the movie “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” where many of the actors were not Middle Eastern.

“It’s just an overall trend in the media to sort of homogenize the imagery,” he said.

Ware said not depicting more diversity in media is a contributing factor in some of the poor relations in the U.S. between groups of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. He said the diversity problem only bolsters negative stereotypes about certain groups of people.

“It’s called typecast,” he said. “They just have ideas of how certain people and positions should look. Most of it is unconscious.”

But Ware said diversity in media has improved a great deal since the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. He said he hopes that it continues improving so that negative stereotypes on certain groups of people can fall.

“It’s just part of the brain functioning. It can cause people to automatically (think that) without being aware that they’re stereotyping,” he said. “If people knew about it, it would definitely help with their interaction.”